I have a small, but very heavy safe here at home that I use. I got it at a thrift store, and it was 'locked open'. A trip to the local 'wonderfully reasonable' locksmith, and he had it working b4 I ever brought it home.

I just googled safe deposit boxes, and what I read at MSN money is quite scary.

Below is a bit of the article.
Each year thousands of safe deposit boxes are declared 'abandoned' and their contents turned over to the state even when their owners could be easily found.

By Liz Pulliam Weston

Are the contents of your safe deposit box safe?

Are you sure?

Every year, untold numbers of safe deposit boxes are declared "abandoned," drilled open and their contents turned over to state unclaimed-property offices. Whatever's inside that can be auctioned -- jewelry, stamp collections, coins, watches -- eventually is sold to the highest bidder.

The proceeds from these sales join the estimated $23 billion sitting in states' escheat coffers, waiting for the rightful owners to appear. But the stuff that's sold, much of it irreplaceable memorabilia and heirlooms, can never be retrieved.

I've attended one of these auctions, and it was indescribably sad. Engraved wedding bands, silver baby rattles, carefully tended baseball-card collections, all being inspected by and sold to complete strangers. People cared for these objects enough to place them in banks for safekeeping, only to lose them forever.

Sue

We will never use a safe deposit box again. I'm posting an incident a relative experienced as well as part of an article that explains why chemocurl has the right idea. Get your own safe and keep your valuables there.

A relative of ours passed, the son/executor went to the bank to check the contents of the safe deposit box. An employee told him he could wait while she fetched the contents for him or he could accompany her. Of course he wanted to be there when it was opened. He also wondered how SHE was able to get into this box when it required two keys to be opened. The banks' and his copy.

His parents had told him they had some stock certificates, but he wasn't sure what else he would find. When he opened the box the only thing in it was the title to their car.

This was a large, well known bank in Maryland. Would they have sold the car if they could have gotten away with it? Who knows. This made us aware that our valuables really aren't that safe in a bank safety deposit box. The following article backs this up.

Your safe deposit box may not be so safe

Your jewels, stock certificates, deeds and other precious valuables in your safe deposit box are absolutely, positively safe, right? Not necessarily.

By Bankrate.com
Sep 2004

Where's the safest place to keep your great-grandmother's diamond ring? If you said a safe deposit box, you're wrong.

It's true that the chances your valuables will disappear from the bank vault are slim. But many people mistakenly believe that even if the worst happens, their property has the extra protection of federal bank insurance.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s $100,000 guarantee, however, does not extend to safe deposit boxes. And, to many homeowners' chagrin, their personal policies may not cut it, either.

David P. McGuinn, founder of Houston-based Safe Deposit Specialists, has rubbed shoulders with more than 100,000 safe deposit managers and written the Safe Deposit Policy and Procedure Handbook. The majority of box holders, he insists, believe "the FDIC has my back."

"When you have a loss, people look for someone to blame," McGuinn says. "Unfortunately, that's now the bank because historically we haven't bothered to give them anything in writing that explains or highlights the clause saying we don't insure what you put in a safe deposit box."

What to worry about
The bank boxes do offer security not available in most homes. But nothing is failsafe. McGuinn knows the potential trouble spots inside and out:

Fire: It's not the flames licking the vault that owners should fret. Heat is the true culprit that can turn papers to ash and melt precious metals inside that steel oven. And a bomb in any safe deposit box at a bank branch would obliterate everything in that area.

Theft: If you can prove a bank employee is behind your disappearing valuables, FDIC spokesperson Frank Gresock says the bank's liability insurance should apply. Otherwise, you follow the same filing steps with stolen safe deposit box items you would with items taken from your home.

A link that might be useful:
moneycentral.msn.com/content/Banking/FinancialPrivacy/P41893.asp

I, too, have a home safe. Remember, though, for a safe to truly be 'safe', it needs to be permanently installed. It does really no good to put your valuables into a safe that a crook could pick up and walk out the door with, to open at his leisure, later.

At the main Wells Fargo bank here, I pay $35.00 a year - never paid much attention to the size... 5" wide maybe but fairly deep. In some places, competition for a limited number of boxes is keen - ran into that when I lived in Maryland - so I was loath to give up my box even though it sat relatively empty for fear of being put on a waiting list to get another one. They're money makers for the banks so I'm guessing they can charge whetever the market will bear.

Yes, there's lots of anecdotal evidence out there for not trusting SD boxes, but much of it smacks of the same anecdotal evidence in favor of people not trusting banks in general and burying money in a coffee can in the back yard. Also people take things out of SD Boxes and forget to put them back and a "missing item" is later found in a drawer or file folder. As for stock certificates; sometimes it happens that a stock splits or gets taken private, old certificates are surrendered and new cerificates may be held by the company for you or by one's broker.

I would never let a bank employee open my box without my being present. Their responsibility is to remove the closed box in my presence, carry it closed for me to a table or carrel, then leave me in private as I open the box. If a bank employee opened the box itself or insisted on bringing me loose contents, I would report that employee to the nearest bank officer and beyond.

I don't advocate throwing all caution to the wind, but getting caught up in all the hysteria is counter productive, too. Yes, a home safe should be permanently installed or weigh a couple of tons and by the same token - very few people should be aware that you even have a home safe. And if you want to carry paranoia to extremes - the company you bought it from knows you have the safe; the locksmith who worked on it knows you have a safe and how to get into it. And an even worse extreme - if you insure your valuables, the insurance company knows what you've got and heaven forbid they're working in tandem with a team of cat burglars! Any scenario you can come up with can be fraught with danger if you let it.

Some of these articles can lead people into the bunker mentality - it just conjurs up a picture of ma + pa sitting on the porch with shotguns across their laps protecting what's theirs from bands of marauders.

Guess we got a little far afield over considering a reasonable cost for a SD Box rental.....

duluthinbloomz4- "Yes, there's lots of anecdotal evidence out there for not trusting SD boxes,I don't advocate throwing all caution to the wind, but getting caught up in all the hysteria is counter productive, too."

"I would never let a bank employee open my box without my being present. Their responsibility is to remove the closed box in my presence, carry it closed for me to a table or carrel, then leave me in private as I open the box. If a bank employee opened the box itself or insisted on bringing me loose contents, I would report that employee to the nearest bank officer and beyond."

Why does someone always have to come up negative, derogatory terms to describe what others do that one doesn't agree with?

You were doing fine when you responded to the OP's question about the size and cost of safe deposit boxes. Just because YOU choose to use a safe deposit box, doesn't mean that those who don't are: hysterical, paranoid or sitting on their porch with a gun.

How would you KNOW if a bank employee has been through your box, if they can get into it when your NOT there?

Yeah, I guess 'we' got a little far afield over considering a reasonable cost for a SD Box rental.....

I don't think anything I wrote was any more derogatory or fear mongering than any of the previous postings citing Bankrate and MSN. - but I did hit submit knowing the consequences that it would be regarded as a personal attack and as name calling.

This is from the FDIC and I will offer it simply for anyone who might want to consider any or different sides in the SD Box issue. And I fully accept the fact that this can be dismissed as "corporate spin" or may lull some into a sense of security that our financial instututions are doing all they can to protect us, just as other articles posted will leave some feeling less protected and more vulnerable.

"Safe deposit boxes are stored in concrete or steel vaults equipped with sophisticated alarms, locks, video cameras, motion sensors, heat detectors and other security devices. Most U.S. banks also have very strict access procedures, among them: verifying signatures, restricting access to the vault, never leaving anyone unattended inside the vault, and requiring two different keys (one being the bank's "guard key" and the second, your key) to open a box.

Inside the vault: Accompany the bank employee into the vault, and be sure no other customers are there with you. After you arrive at the vault, it's OK to give the attendant your key for the few seconds it takes to open or close the box door, but never lose sight of the key and never leave it in the box door. An unscrupulous attendant or dishonest customer only needs a few seconds to make a wax impression of your key, which can be used to make a duplicate. Also, never let a bank employee take the box out of your sight. When you return your box to the vault, be sure the box door is properly locked and that you have your key before you leave. ''Don't allow a bank employee to keep your key and handle transactions for you if you're not there something elderly customers have done and regretted," adds Carol Mesheske, chief of a section in the FDIC's Division of Supervision that monitors fraudulent activities at banks.
Outside the vault: Only open the safe deposit box when you're inside the viewing booth and away from bank employees and customers. ''Before leaving the privacy booth, make sure all valuables are safely back inside the box," recommends Gene Seitz, also of the FDIC's anti-fraud group. ''And make sure there's nothing left behind that may indicate the contents of your box, such as a currency strap, a specially-marked envelope or an empty jewelry box."

It does not matter to me how someone chooses to protect what they consider valuable. And for any kind of meaningful discourse on any kind of forum, it's not necessary for everyone to be in total agreement on all things.

If Mom and Pop are sitting on the front porch with shotguns ...

... do they have a kid watching the back?

Sorry - no advice about safety deposit box fees.

Probably not very relevant, in any case, as our banking systems vary considerably.

ole joyful

Well, I think that's high. We have 2 safe deposit boxes, at 2 different banks. One is about 7 x 4 x 15 inches deep, and it's $15.00/year. The other is about 10 x 10 x 15 inches deep, and it's $45/year.

We have a small safe deposit box that we pay $65/year. When it got full, I went through it and pulled out the things I felt did not need to be there. Anything that I can get a copy of does not take up space. We used to keep stock certificates in it, but we no longer hold individual stocks and the mutual funds records are kept with the financial co.

Keeping a safe at home would make it very convenient for a burgler - everything valuable in one place and portable as well. I'm with duluthinbloom here.

An aquaintance of mine was burgled - he was a very organized person and had a list of everything valuable and it's location. The burgler found the list and took everything on it and left the list on the kitchen counter.

While I do have such a list - the location says "safe deposit box". My son's name is included as a co-signer and he knows where I keep the key, so if DH and I died suddenly, DS would be able to find what he needs.

I thought you could bolt the Sentry heat-proof boxes to a shelf from the inside. I'm not sure what that does to the fire-safe-ness, and I can't find info on it in their PDFs on their website, but I thought I saw this on mine. My security chest is stuck deep somewhere that would be sort of annoying for someone to dig through to find it. Heck, it's annoying to ME!

In the old days a *safe* was too heavy to move. And a true "safe" is secured to the building in some way.

I can't say about the bolting and any possible compromising of the integrity of the box - seems in a fire situation, the shelf might burn away dropping the box anyway complete with the screw holes which could admit air. Haven't done much looking into these things, but know they're tested to withstand X amount of heat for X amount of time. Imagine the people in the devastating California fires could attest to how contents of heat proof/fire resistant boxes fared. I'm guessing papers would eventually char or disintegrate or combust, jewelry or metals would melt - even in a fast moving but extremely intense fire.

I've got 3 so called "safe deposit" boxes within 3 miles of my house, and one 1200 miles away.

Justification: 9/11 Don't keep all your eggs in one basket.

People keep crap that is not necessary to be kept in SD boxes.. car titles, deeds, ... hell, all that is easily replaced.

Ben Franklins. Only need a 3x5 box for them

I think that the best home safes are fire rated wall safes. Wall safes can be hidden behind pictures or mirrors. I read that the average burglar spends less than 10 minutes in a home. Most spend their time looking through the contents in drawers and on closet shelves. Many just take consumer electronics. Very few burglars spend time looking for wall safes.

Wall safes are attached to studs. The screw heads are inside the safe making it difficult to remove a locked safe from the wall. All home safes should have at least a one hour fire rating.

Wall Safe

My father had a wall safe installed in his bedroom closet nearly 50 years ago. After he died in 1998, Mom opened it and found only family birth certificates. Of course, birt certificates can be replaced. There was no cash or jewelry or stock certificates. Oh, Mom gave me my birth cert. I had needed it years ago to get a Passport, so I had already paid for a duplicate from the state. So it goes.